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Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Predator's Serenade...a teaser before release day!

Well, if you read any of Predator's Kiss, book 1 in my Gemini Island shifters series, you know this much: Soren Snow is a tease.

So I thought it only appropriate that I do a little tease of my own before he gets his release day August 12. Please stay tuned and remember that Predator's Serenade is coming to you then but is available for pre-order now at www.lsbooks.com.

In the mean time, enjoy a little Soren on me.

Excerpt:

The next day, Gioia tagged along on one
of Ryland's nature walks for the young shifters in his mentoring program.
Gunnar hadn't wanted to go and had expressed his disdain through a lengthy
scowl and arms crossed tightly over his chest. After some cajoling, she'd been
able to persuade him to give it a try. He barely socialized at home, preferring
to stick to his drums, and he needed to be around kids like him. It might be
his only good opportunity.

When Soren Snow showed up, she did
everything she could not to make the hitch in her breath obvious. Even still,
she was all too aware of the man. It was hard to miss his commanding figure and
the way the sun seemed to hit his hair at perfect angles, illuminating golden
highlights that were undoubtedly never touched by Miss Clairol. Now, while
Ryland explained to his young charges which berries were safe to ingest and
which would make one upchuck a lunch, Soren brought up the rear of the group.
The rock star shifter tramped on some Queen Anne's Lace that had the audacity
to grow in his path.

Gioia darted a look of sympathy at the
now-wilted weeds. She nodded at Soren. "I guess the great outdoors isn't
quite your cup of tea."

He glared at her. "I don't drink
tea."

"Noted," she replied under her
breath. "Remind me not to invite you to my next tea party."

He stopped marching and regarded her,
appraising eyes under arched brows. "I suppose you're right at home here
among all the overgrown shrubs and poison ivy."

She ignored his dig and considered the
lush greenery of her surroundings, so different from her prairie home. "I
love it here. The quiet, the majesty of the place. I could spend hours
wandering in these woods. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be." She
arched her own brow in his direction. "But I can see why you’d feel
differently. You must have important people to see. I'm sure Eddie Van Halen is
waiting for you somewhere in the hopes of jamming with you."

Soren's lip thinned and he blushed.
"Actually, I am meeting up with Eddie next month. We’re collaborating on a
project."

She tried not to explode with a guffaw.
"Oh, well, I am impressed."

"Most people would be."

Gioia's foot stopped mid-air. She
blinked, set it down, and turned to him. "You know what would really
impress me, music man?"

"No, what?" he said on a quiet
snarl.

She nodded at Ryland's group of kids.
"If you could manage to impart some sort of genuine wisdom to those kids,
my heart would overflow with admiration for you." She put her hands on her
hips in a silent dare.

His gaze narrowed on her hips and then
made the slow climb back up to her face. He gaped at her for a long moment
before turning and marching over to his brother.

Ryland addressed the kids. "So, I’ve
been flapping my gums at you all morning. How about you guys telling me
something you've learned about being shifters?"

Soren cleared his throat. Gioia watched,
far too amused, as a dozen teenaged heads turned toward him and as Soren bit
his bottom lip. "As a shifter, you'll sometimes be forced to rely on your
senses and speed."

Ryland gawked at his brother, clearly
unaccustomed to receiving input from him. "You're right, Soren. Can you
give us an example of when that's happened to you?"

"Sure." Soren shrugged, but
then his eyes widened in excitement. "Oh, I remember this one time. Three
of the more aggressive fans from the Nevada chapter of my fan club had followed
me after a gig at Caesar's Palace. Those girls chased me all over the Vegas
strip. I finally lost them and stumbled back to my suite at the Venetian, only
to find the guys from Mötley Crüe had kicked in the door to my room and brought
a dozen models with them. Someone puked all over my luggage. I'm still not sure
who, but I haven't returned Vince Neil's calls since. I really wasn't in the
mood to party, so I had to escape, even though Tommy Lee’s new girlfriend was
coming onto me like it was nobody's business. I made a dash for it. And when I
did, the girls from the fan club found me again. They followed me, but I lost
them somewhere in the casino. Sometimes a guy gets tired of the whole
Beatlemania thing, you know?"

No one said a word for a full minute. The
only noise in the woods was a red squirrel, scurrying along a tree branch.

Soren shifted his balance from one foot
to the other, clearly realizing a second too late that his story might not
really be appropriate for the crowd. And even though Gioia considered his tale
to be probably the most outlandish she'd ever heard, she smiled at him, wanting
for some reason to put him at ease.